Olympus MjuII/Stylus Epic question.

I've had one of these from new and it's great, apart from a couple of strange features. First it holds the aperture open too long relative to shutter speed for my taste, and second you have to kill auto flash when it's turned on. Flash comes on as default when you open the camera but it can be stopped with two presses of a button.

My question is if I use the camera permanently open, does the light meter stay on and drain the battery, or does the camera go into sleep mode after a certain time to save juice?

I have one of these but haven't used it for a while. I think there is a good reason why the default flash operates. It expects the operator to use the camera often in backlit situations on the basis that a fully automatic camera leads the user to take pics in "challenging light situations " but expects him/her to be ignorant of what backlit pics do to exposure hence the default flash which of course will only work with close-up people shots but this is/was probably its main function. It was a party/ get-together/wedding camera or occasionally a landscape camera where even the "snapper" used the sun over the shoulder rule.

So given whom Olympus expected to buy this camera it makes sense to me

I am unclear what you mean about holding the aperture open too long. I can say that I have never noticed this making the total light hitting the film a problem.

Can't answer your final question. I think I always shut the lens cover after taking a pic as it just seemed the natural thing to do. It's an interesting question but on the threads I have seen on APUG I can;t recall anyone issuing a warning to shut the lens cover after each picture due to its battery drain.

I'll try and take a look at the instructions booklet to see what it says. It is as you say a great camera especially when used with colour neg film rather than B&W where filters are used. It was a product of the times when the holiday snapper almost always used colour neg film.

pentaxuser

My Stylus Epic's (mju-II) fall asleep after 5 minutes with the shell open. To wake it up, press the shutter in 1/2 way and your settings (flash off) will still be there.

blockend said:

I've had one of these from new and it's great, apart from a couple of strange features. First it holds the aperture open too long relative to shutter speed for my taste, and second you have to kill auto flash when it's turned on. Flash comes on as default when you open the camera but it can be stopped with two presses of a button.

My question is if I use the camera permanently open, does the light meter stay on and drain the battery, or does the camera go into sleep mode after a certain time to save juice?

Click to expand...

Yes, exactly same things annoys me as well . Also MjuII (f2.8 version) always tries to get maximum f stop open to avoid influence of hand shaking, so many shots are at f2.8, which is not so good for my style of shooting. That is why on the end I chose Mju I (f3.5) version.

troyholden said:

My Stylus Epic's (mju-II) fall asleep after 5 minutes with the shell open. To wake it up, press the shutter in 1/2 way and your settings (flash off) will still be there.

Click to expand...

Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. Strange I've had the camera about 15 years and never left it open long enough to find out.

To Pentaxuser, by the open aperture thing I mean once shutter speeds begin to climb beyond, say, 1/125th, I would normally expect aperture to begin to stop down in staged increments. The MjuII holds on to f2.8 some way past this, I forget exactly how long, I had a chart somewhere. It's really only an issue with slower films and/or low light, with ISO 400+ in good light the aperture allows a bigger DoF.

Here is a view of the Mju II exposure program.

philbed said:

Here is a view of the Mju II exposure program.

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Just the thing, thank you.

I found the Stylus Epic to drain the battery if left in. Maybe thats just me as I go months in between exposure sometimes.

Why dont you try the original Stylus a try? The lens is only f3.5 (so wide open isnt quite as wide) , The buttons are easier to press, and it has a nicer feel 2-handed.

darkosaric said:

Also MjuII (f2.8 version) always tries to get maximum f stop open to avoid influence of hand shaking, so many shots are at f2.8, which is not so good for my style of shooting. That is why on the end I chose Mju I (f3.5) version.

Click to expand...

This was the result of auto-focus technology. If you check on older "auto" cameras (e.g.the Trip 35), they were designed to close down the aperture for maximum DoF. This meant that the shutter speed would be about the slowest recommended for the lens focal length (the Trip used 1/40 sec for a 40mm lens). Once auto-focus came around, the camera companies apparently decided that camera shake was a big problem (had it ever been a problem before?) and sacrificed the DoF for faster shutter speeds. It is a pain in the butt if you know anything at all about using a camera.

Generally speaking, we shouldn't expect too much from point and shoot cameras. Even though they were costly at the time ($100 and more), the cameras and its features were aimed at the occasional-shooting amateur and not the advanced photographer.

I have the deluxe version with the Panorama function. What a pain to find out I shot half a roll with this 'feature' enabled. I think I should glue it down so it can't move.